DSCC FRIDAY TAKEAWAYS: SENATE GOP WOULD RAISE TAXES, GUT HEALTH CARE – – DSCC LAUNCHES PA, FL COORDINATED – WALKER’S SHADY BUSINESS RECORD EXPOSED – PA R’S SLAMMED

SENATE REPUBLICANS’ MIDTERM AGENDA, IN THEIR OWN WORDS: TAX-HIKES AND HIGHER HEALTH CARE COSTS. Senate Republicans are continuing to unveil what they’ll do if they win the Senate majority: raise taxes on half of Americans and overturn the ACA – spiking health care costs and stripping away protections from more than 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions.

• CNN: Republicans are their own worst enemy in the push for the majority. “It’s the latest problem for McConnell caused by members of his own conference, a series of self-inflicted wounds.”

• Washington Post: Sen. Ron Johnson says Obamacare should be repealed if GOP wins power back. “The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the party’s Senate campaign arm, seized on Johnson’s comments Monday, accusing him of ‘pushing the agenda of the ultra-rich and big corporations.’”

• New York Times: Why Senate Republicans Are Feuding Over Their Midterm Message. “Democrats have been all too happy to pin its provisions on the Republican Party writ large.They’ve seized on one bullet point in particular, which reads: ‘All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount. Currently over half of Americans pay no income tax.’ That idea polls badly, according to Morning Consult.”

• Washington Post (Opinion): Senate Republicans might help Democrats keep the majority. “Self-inflicted wounds from candidates’ own mouths provide a steady stream of gifts to Democrats”

RICK ROLLED: NRSC CHAIR STRIKES-OUT ON RECRUITMENT & EXPOSES SENATE REPUBLICANS’ TOXIC MIDTERM AGENDA. It’s been a tough stretch for Senate Republicans and NRSC Chair Rick Scott who continue to get “rolled” by their toxic midterm agenda and humiliating recruitment failures. The DSCC thanked Scott for his hard work by encircling the NRSC with a mobile billboard to help get the word out about the GOP’s tax-hike plan.

• The Hill: Senate Dems Troll Gop With Mobile Billboard Hammering Scott’s Tax Plan. “While Republicans are in their retreat we’ll be making sure everyone knows about their plan to raise taxes on over half of all Americans, including seniors and working families,” David Bergstein, a spokesperson for the DSCC, said in a statement.

• National Journal: Rick Scott getting rolled as NRSC chairman. “On the recruitment front, the Floridian has failed to land top candidates… And he’s now promoting his own 11-point conservative policy manifesto that calls for every American to pay taxes.”
  
  • “He has failed to convince three popular Republican governors to run for the Senate… All told, the roster of Republican recruits in states with pickup opportunities is at best untested.”

🚨BOMBSHELL FROM AJC🚨: “HERSCHEL WALKER’S BUSINESS RECORD REVEALS CREDITOR LAWSUITS, EXAGGERATED CLAIMS.” A new investigation today from the Atlanta-Journal Constitution “revealed a string of defaults, settlements and lawsuits alleging that Walker and his businesses owed millions of dollars in unpaid loans” – and that Walker has made contradictory statements about the “number of people his companies employ.” The real Walker is coming into focus: he’s a fraud with a record of shadowy, dishonest business practices.

→ Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Herschel Walker’s business record reveals creditor lawsuits, exaggerated claims.

• An Atlanta Journal-Constitution review of court records and other public documents contradicts statements Walker has made about the number of people his companies employ, their size and the assets they own.
  
• The review also revealed a string of defaults, settlements and lawsuits alleging that Walker and his businesses owed millions of dollars in unpaid loans.
  
• “It shows that he will exploit false information for personal gain. If there’s nothing else you need in public office, you have to have somebody that you can trust,” said Sonnenfeld, who previously taught at Emory University for nearly a decade. “The most important thing there is that he hasn’t established himself as a pillar of trust.”

JOINING FORCES – DSCC LAUNCHES “EARLY, AGGRESSIVE” MIDTERM COORDINATED CAMPAIGNS IN PA, FL. This week, the DSCC helped launch the largest and earliest midterm coordinated campaign in Pennsylvania’s history, “All in Pennsylvania,” and rolled out Florida’s earliest ever midterm coordinated campaign, “One Future Florida,” to ensure we elect strong Democratic senators in these key battleground states.

• WHYY: Dems formally launch early, aggressive national campaign effort in Pennsylvania. “Democrats in Pennsylvania are trying to make up for an election year filled with political headwinds with a nationally-backed campaign effort, which strategists and political experts say will likely be unprecedented in size, expense, and length.”
  
• Florida Politics: Florida Democrats announce ‘One Future Florida’ coordinated campaign. “Florida Democrats Tuesday are unveiling their ‘One Future Florida’ campaign, coordinating with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for elections from the U.S. Senate to city councils.”

DSCC PA DIGITAL TAKEOVER SLAMS SENATE REPUBLICANS’ OPPOSITION TO SCHOOL REOPENING FUNDS. Ahead of Biden’s visit to a Philadelphia area school today on the one-year anniversary of the American Rescue Plan, the DSCC launched a digital homepage takeover of the Delaware County Times highlighting how Republicans opposed the Rescue Plan’s funding that helped Pennsylvanians reopen schools safely – and how McCormick and Oz will have to defend their party’s record.

→ PoliticsPA: DSCC Takes Shots at McCormick, Oz in Advance of Biden Address.

• The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) took a swipe at David McCormick and Mehmet Oz today, as part of an effort to slam the Republican Party for opposing the American Rescue Plan.

• The DSCC has taken out online ads across the homepage of the Delaware County (Pa.) Times website today in advance of President Biden’s address to the House Democrats at their retreat in Philadelphia.
  
• The ads slam Republican Party senators, highlighting how the GOP opposed the American Rescue Plan (ARP) and its funding for safely reopening schools.

→ AND DSCC Chair Sen. Gary Peters on American Rescue Plan One-Year Anniversary: “When Senate Democrats came into office we took immediate action to help working families: speeding up vaccines so Americans could get back to work and school, lowering costs like health care, and cutting taxes. Now we know what Republicans would take immediate action on: raising taxes on seniors, ending Medicare and Social Security and ripping away health care coverage protections from Americans with pre-existing conditions – all so they can prioritize the interests of big corporations that are getting rich keeping prices high. And that’s why in 2022 voters will stand with Democrats as we protect and expand our Senate majority.”

“THAT PLEDGE WAS NEVER REALIZED” – MCCORMICK LIED ABOUT CREATING PITTSBURGH JOBS. New reporting this week from WESA exposed David McCormick for giving a “false impression to Pennsylvania voters” in claiming that he created 1,000 jobs in Pittsburgh – despite the fact that “that pledge was never realized.” Key points:

→ WESA: David McCormick’s record on job creation may give false impression to Pennsylvania voters. In the hours after this story was published, the campaign corrected McCormick’s website to say that 1,000 jobs were not created in Pittsburgh.

• Voters – and even a top McCormick ally – may have a false impression about the number of local jobs the company created on his watch.
  
• During McCormick’s tenure at FreeMarkets, the company struggled to meet its own expectations for job creation within the state.
  
• “FreeMarkets has made a commitment to create 1,000 jobs for Western Pennsylvania over the next three years,” he said… But company filings show that pledge was never realized.

CORTEZ MASTO CAMPAIGN HITS THE AIRWAVES TOUTING WORK TO DELIVER RELIEF FUNDS. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto launched the first ads of her re-election campaign – highlighting her work to deliver relief aid that helped Nevada’s hospitality and tourism sectors recover from the pandemic.

WATCH “‘Led the Fight’ (Gladis)’” and “‘Spoke Up for Us” (Kasey)’’’ HERE:

LAXALT SLAMMED AS ELITE, OUT-OF-TOUCH – “WE NEED A SENATOR WHO WILL WORK FOR US, NOT HIS OWN AMBITION.” Corrupt, sleazy politician Adam Laxalt continues to get called as an elitist who has done “very little to promote Nevada’s economy and quality of life.” See for yourself:

• Nevada Appeal (Opinion): No true connection to Nevada. “These are just a fraction of the many ways Cortez Masto is achieving real results for Nevada. In contrast, Laxalt is fulfilling his cousin’s prediction: ‘We believe that he came from Washington to Nevada for the sole purpose of using the family name to pursue a political career which would allow him to eventually return to Washington as one of Washington’s most elite.’”
  
• Mother Jones: This GOP Candidate Is the Son of a Senator and a Lobbyist. He’s Running Against the “Elites.”“There aren’t many definitions of “elites” in the context of American power and politics that don’t include people like Adam Laxalt. He is sort of the archetype of what he’s railing against.”

TAR HEEL STATE ATTACK ADS CONTINUE. Chaos in the GOP Senate field is escalating with more than two months to go until the May primary.

• Club for Growth is out with yet another attack ad against McCrory. According to the News & Observer, the group has already spent about $650,000 against McCrory, and told Politico yesterday they are raising their initial pledge of $10 million to at least $14 million to support Budd.
  
• McCrory’s first attack ad released yesterday “taking aim at his top GOP rival” has already sparked another round of fighting between the campaigns. Budd adviser Jonathan Felts called McCrory a “career politician” with “empty soundbites” and told POLITICO: “Governor McCrory has a long track-record of underestimating the opposition, which is why he’s already lost twice and is about to lose again.”
  
• Read more from the North Carolina Democratic Party HERE

DESERT DEEP DIVE: POLITICO ON ARIZONA GOP PRIMARY SQUEEZE. After Ducey handed Republicans yet another humiliating GOP recruitment failure, Arizona Republicans are left with a wide-open GOP Senate primary and face a “squeeze… with Trump unwilling to let go of the lie he won the election.” Read more from POLITICO here.

JUST THIS WEEK, THANKS TO SENATE DEMOCRATS

 → Senate Dems Work To Lower Costs, Improve Supply Chains & Fight Corporate Greed. Senate Democrats are fighting to address working families’ most important priorities: lowering costs, easing our supply chains, and holding big corporations accountable for spiking costs. Just this week:

• Manchester Ink (Opinion): Sen. Hassan is fighting for investments in supply-chain resiliency: Why that matters for my business. “Senator Hassan’s focus on supporting our supply chains in other ways has also been encouraging. For example, as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law, Senator Hassan worked to secure investments in our country’s highways and ports, which will help ease some of the supply chain bottlenecks that businesses have experienced.”

• Gray DC: Senate support for an insulin price cap gaining momentum. “Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) is sponsoring a bill to cap insulin costs at $35 a month for people with Medicare and private insurance coverage. Sen. Warnock said, ‘for the sake of folks that deal with this every day, and for the sake of getting costs under control, we need to do this now.’”

• My News 4: Nevada Sen. Cortez Masto accuses gas companies of ‘putting profits over consumers‘. “Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) called out oil and gas companies for putting their profits over the needs of Nevadans feeling pain at the pump, and called on them to take more robust action to bring down costs and ramp up responsible oil production.”

IN THE STATES:

CO – Colorado Sun: Colorado Republicans hoping to unseat Michael Bennet in 2022 are relying on “dumpster fire” ballot-access process. “Because the candidates all lack name recognition, even within their own party, there is no clear frontrunner.”

NH – New Hampshire Union Leader: Rep. Matt Wilhelm: Hassan is leading the fight to lower gas prices. “Our own Sen. Maggie Hassan has stood apart by leading the fight in the Senate to bring down the costs of gasoline. Instead of sitting on the sidelines, she has pushed for immediate action, including calling for a suspension of the gas tax.”

OH – Ohio Capital Journal: Despite criticizing federal spending, some GOP Senate candidates accepted PPP loans. “The field of Republican Senate candidates is crowded, and the elbows are sharp.”

TWEET OF THE WEEK: 

David Bergstein

@DavidABergstein

Amanda Sherman

@asherman89

Pat Burgwinkle

@Burgwinkle

Nora Keefe

@norakatekeefe

Eli Cousin

@elicousin

Claire Berry

@claireliseberry

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